Like Barbra and Neil
by raeganb123
Summary: Finchel are back on, and are celebrating Valentine's Day. Puck's not happy about that. Rachel tries to comfort him. Mentions of Finchel and Puckleberry relationship, and Evanberry friendship. Epilogue up now!
1. Chapter 1: Valentine's Day Sucks

It was Valentine's Day, and for the people in relationships it was one of the greatest days of the year. But for the people who were single, it was hell.

Noah Puckerman was no exception. Santana had Brittany, Mike had Tina, Kurt had Blaine, Mercedes had both Shane and Sam, Sugar had Rory and Artie (what was with all of these undeserving people having more than one Valentine?) and Finn had Rachel (_his_ Rachel!)

Everyone expected him to end up with Quinn, who was the only other person in Glee that didn't have a Valentine. But he had already moved on. Of course, she would always mean a lot to him. Come on, she was his Baby Mama! But he just didn't feel that way about her anymore.

Watching Rachel and Finn making goo-goo eyes at each other all day had made him feel sick to his stomach. Sure, he was friends with Finn again, and yeah, he and Rachel were on speaking terms, but she never noticed how much he really cared about her. She was the first girl that he had had an exclusive relationship with. He and Santana didn't count. They were pretty much friends-with-benefits from the start. But with Rachel it was different. When he was with her, he didn't even think about being with another girl.

But she was too caught up with the idea of being with Finn to see how much she mattered to him.

He watched as Finn and Rachel ate lunch together, feeding each other bits of their food and giggling.

He bolted from the cafeteria, trying to get as far away from the happy couple as possible. He wanted to be left alone to wallow by himself, away from everyone's prying and watchful eyes.

Looking out across the football field, sitting on the cold bleachers, he remembered his and Rachel's break-up. He remembered the hurt and pain that he covered up with anger.

"Noah, are you all right?" Depressed, jealous, hurt, lonely, maybe. But all right? Definitely not.

"Just wanted to be alone, I guess. Isn't that what single people do on Valentine's Day?"

"You want to talk about it?" It was an innocent question, but it caused hurt to course through him. How could he talk to her about how much he cared for her if she was with Finn?

"Not particularly, no."

"You want to change the subject?"

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that."

She sat closer to him, trying to keep warm. "Did you know that Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand were childhood friends? And that they performed one of the greatest duets of all times at the GRAMMY'S?"

"So they're kind of like us, then? We've known each other since our first day of temple, and Need You Now was definitely the best duet ever performed in the history of Glee Club."

She smiled. "I guess we kind of are. Diamond was one of the only people that could calm Barbra down when she was nervous. You're my Neil Diamond." She smiled, causing him to smirk.

"Babe, you'll always be my Barbra." She giggled at the metaphor.

"I'm taking that as a compliment."

"It was." He bumped his shoulder lightly against hers.

"Finn was mad that I decided to come after you when you bolted."

"Why?" he cautiously asked.

"He gets a little jealous from time to time. I was talking to Sam in the halls as we walked to our next class, because he was the only friend I had in that class and Finn blew up at both of us, accusing me of cheating on him. Can you believe him?"

So I guess Finchel wasn't as happy as they played it out to be at school. He didn't know if that was good or bad for him.

"And you're **still** marrying him?"

"Of course I'm still marrying him! I love him, Noah."

"Just because you love him doesn't mean you should marry him."

"I'm afraid I'm going to lose him if I don't marry him," she whispered quietly.

He grabbed her hand, trying to console her. "If you were in love with him, you wouldn't doubt him right now, Rach."

She sighed. "I know, but I've worked so hard to get him back. It'd feel like a waste if I gave that all up now."

"You want to know what I think?" She nodded. "I think you forced yourself to love Finn, because you liked him too much to let him go back to Quinn and because you spent so much time working on getting him back."

She sighed. "I know that. But it just isn't that simple. I can't just break up with him **now**! We're engaged!"

"Rachel, you're 18!"

She rested her head on his shoulder. "If I break up with him, will you please come with me? I won't be able to do it alone."

He squeezed her hand. "Of course."

She kissed him softly on the cheek, her lips lingering. "Thank you for being my Neil Diamond, Noah."

And with that, she got up and left, leaving a dumbstruck Noah Puckerman touching his cheek in shock.

He smiled. _I wonder if Neil Diamond was secretly in love with Barbra Streisand. _

And with that, he made his way to his next class with a spring in his step.

_Best Valentine's Day ever!_

_**Please review and tell me what you think! I'm thinking it'll have one to two more chapters. But if no one reviews, this'll be the end! Thanks for reading! (: ~raeganb**_


	2. Chapter 2: Finchel Finally Falls

**Disclaimer- I do not own Glee. That honor belongs to Ryan Murphy.**

Like Barbra and Neil

Chapter 2

It took Rachel an entire month to finally work up the courage to break off her and Finn's engagement.

When the day finally came, she called up Noah, telling him her plan. His only reply? "Just tell me what you need and I'll be there."

She smiled. "See you at school then Noah!"

"Later Rach." And he hung up.

She took a deep breath before walking into school. She smiled at the sight of Noah leaning up against her locker waiting for her.

"Good morning, Noah!" said Rachel enthusiastically.

"Morning, Rach. You ready for this?" asked Puck.

She sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be."

She looked up when she heard Finn greeting Noah from across the hall.

Noah nodded politely. "Sup Hudson?"

"Not much. Morning Rach," said Finn.

Rachel gave him a small smile. "Morning, Finn." Noah gently nudged her, jerking his head in Finn's direction.

Rachel cleared her throat. "Finn, can we please speak in private?"

He looked confused. "Uh, sure?"

Rachel grabbed his wrist and started dragging him toward the empty English classroom.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Finn, I've been thinking lately."

He interrupted her. "About what?"

"About our relationship."

He looked confused again. "Okay? Why?"

"Because I don't think this relationship is going to work out."

"Rachel, we're ENGAGED!"

Unshed tears pricked her eyes. "I know that Finn. But be honest with me here, do you really want to spend the rest of your life with me in New York?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped.

"That's what I thought."

Then Finn made a terrible mistake. "Why can't you just stay in Lima with me?"

Puck, who was listening outside the door, gasped.

Rachel, who was shocked, became speechless.

"Come on Rach! Lima's not so bad! You can go to OSU with me and become a teacher or whatever, and I'll take over Burt's shop! When we're older, we can have kids. We'll have a nice home somewhere near where we live now. We'll have a white picket fence; I'll build a tree house for the kids. Does that sound so bad?"

Without thinking, Rachel shouted, "Yes! That sounds awful, Finn Hudson!"

He took a step back. "Why does that sound so bad? What's so wrong with that future?"

"What's wrong is because it's in Lima-freaking-Ohio! New York's been my dream since I was a baby! Remember Finn? Me being on Broadway?"

Unthinkingly, he answered. "Rachel, barely anyone even makes it on Broadway! Why do you think you out of all people will?"

Rachel gasped, tears escaping her eyes.

Finn took a step closer. "No, Rachel, I didn't mean it like that! You're extremely talented! It's just…"

Rachel took a step back, calmly took off her engagement ring and handed it to him. "I don't think I'll be needing this anymore."

She exited the room hastily, rushing through the door straight into the open arms of Noah Puckerman.

He wiped the tears off her face. "I'm so proud of you Rach! Let's get you to the bathroom so we can get you cleaned up."

And with that, the pair made their way down the hallway with their arms linked, while Finn watched dejectedly as his ex-fiancée made her way farther and farther away from him.

**A/N- Sorry for the extremely long wait guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll most likely be adding one or two more chapters, so look out for those! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3: Epilogue

**Thanks for sticking with me guys! This is the last chapter!**

22-year-old Rachel Berry stared at herself in the mirror.

She had graduated with honors from NYADA with Kurt. She got a callback on her first audition for Broadway, but she ended up not getting the part. She was surprisingly okay with it. She knew you couldn't win everything.

The next week, she heard there were open auditions for the musical, Evita. For her audition she sang Don't Cry For Me, Argentina, a song that was close to her and Kurt's hearts.

The next week they called to ask her to play Eva. She made it onto Broadway.

After months and months of rehearsing and getting to know her cast mates, she knew this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. And it wasn't even opening night yet.

Of course, all of her late-night rehearsals and dinners and press interviews with her cast mates put a damper on her relationship, but it didn't end it.

Her and Noah have been dating for 4 years now. They dated all through college, him attending NYU and her attending NYADA. She didn't know what she would do without him. He always supported her and he was always there for her.

And she knew she would dedicate this performance, her first performance on a Broadway stage, to him.

Everyone had come to watch.

Mr. Schuester, Mrs. Pillsbury-Schuester, Shelby, Beth, Finn, Quinn, Kurt, Blaine, Sam, Mike, Tina, Mercedes, Joe, Sugar, Santana, Artie, Brittany, Rory, Noah, her dads, Noah's mom and sister, and Burt and Carole. Even Matt came! And she hadn't spoken to him since the summer after sophomore year! She smiled knowing that they were all in the front row waiting for her to blow them away like they all knew she would.

Usually, it would make her nervous because of them all being there, but it brought her comfort knowing that things from high school never really changed. Her whole Glee club was sitting down there waiting for her to sing her solo. It made her smile.

But that wasn't even the best part. Jesse St. James and her became really close after Nationals. Not relationship close, but friendship-wise. He was the producer of Evita and the stage hand.

Everyone she loved was here.

Jesse came into her dressing room. "10 minutes 'til showtime Rach." He smiled at her.

Rachel was already in her costume and make-up, just staring at herself in the mirror.

Rachel whispered, "What if I mess up just like I did on my NYADA audition?"

Jesse sighed. "Rach, we've been over this, you're not going to mess up, okay?"

Rachel took deep breaths. "Okay."

She looked over her shoulder at Jesse and smiled.

Jesse looked at his watch. "Come on Rach, we better get going."

She nodded, took his offered arm, and made her way to the side of the stage.

_**P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~P&R~**_

She killed it, of course. Well, at least, that's what everyone's been telling her. She received a standing ovation at the end of the show. She milked the spotlight, blowing kisses and waving into the crowd. She laughed as she stepped off the stage. Noah was in the wings, waiting for her. She ran to him and jumped into his arms. He caught her and spun her around, kissing her on her temple. She giggled.

"Come on my Eva, we better get you out of your costume. Everyone wants to see you!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her to her dressing room where she got dressed in her normal clothes.

She followed Noah to the front of the theater.

She received a hug from everyone. Santana gave her a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the butt. Rachel just rolled her eyes and hugged her back, while Santana was laughing.

She smiled through her tears. "Thank you all for coming. I know you have better things to be doing than coming and seeing me, but I appreciate it."

Finn walked up to her and hugged. "There's no place we'd rather be, Rach. I'm sorry I ever tried to keep you from getting here."

Rachel hugged him back. "I forgave you a long time ago Finn."

And then Sugar laughed and yelled, "GROUP HUG!"

And in that moment, Rachel didn't think she'd ever felt happier.

_**Fin.**_

**Thanks for sticking by me guys! I really appreciate those of you who reviewed, favorited, and alerted! I hope you all review! I'd love to hear your feedback. (:**


End file.
